In the quiet second row of a Swiss village street, hidden behind an indifferent villa, Mühle Ennenda stood in decay—an overlooked medieval mill, its history eroded by time and neglect.
Atelier Lando Rossmaier approached its transformation with a delicate balance of precision and restraint, unearthing layers of architectural memory while embracing the building’s inherent wounds. Rather than imposing a seamless restoration, they chose to amplify its scars, revealing the raw poetics of a structure that had been altered, damaged, and reshaped over centuries. The project is an exploration of architectural ethics—one that acknowledges history’s disruptions instead of erasing them.
The meticulous deconstruction process uncovered a fragmented past: soot-darkened surfaces, water-stained stone walls, and ghostly traces of past uses etched into wood and plaster. In peeling back layers of later modifications, the architects discovered the house’s original spatial clarity—generous yet compromised rooms, once divided into narrow sleeping chambers for the sake of modern comfort. The material language was chosen with site specificity in mind, favoring local stone, lime, and timber, reinforcing the building’s connection to its landscape. Kitchens and baths were not added as foreign interventions but built into the structure itself, their rough plastered surfaces merging with the existing fabric.
The concept of "Leerräume" (empty spaces) played a pivotal role in the intervention. Instead of sealing off areas vulnerable to water and decay, the architects allowed moisture to escape through permeable lime and hemp walls, choosing a natural equilibrium over technological suppression. A lofty, light-filled space now stands where wooden ceilings once pressed low, with a glass partition opening to an interior garden. The house breathes again, its presence heightened by the textures of untreated materials and the deliberate retention of irregularities. A shingled exterior, reminiscent of a living, feathered skin, completes the transformation, ensuring that the house not only endures but resonates—a quiet yet forceful assertion of architectural sensitivity.
